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The Current Information Warfare (called Reflexive Control) used by Russia against Ukraine today

Distraction, by creating a real or imaginary threat to one of the enemy’s most vital locations (flanks, rear, etc.) during the preparatory stages of combat operations, thereby forcing him to reconsider the wisdom of his decisions to operate along this or that axis;

• Russian troops at the Ukrainian boarder

Strategic missile tests

Overload, by frequently sending the enemy a large amount of conflicting information;

• Russian spies in all levels of the Ukrainian government

• Russia Today TV and all Russian mass media outlets

Paralysis, by creating the perception of a specific threat to a vital interest or weak spot;

• Diversions in Lviv, Zakarpatia and on Maidan in Kyiv

Exhaustion, by compelling the enemy to carry out useless operations, thereby entering combat with reduced resources;

• Multiple small skirmishes and checkpoint controls in Luhansk and Donetsk

Deception, by forcing the enemy to reallocate forces to a threatened region during the preparatory stages of combat operations;

• Multiple small skirmishes and checkpoint controls in Luhansk and Donetsk

Division, by convincing the enemy that he must operate in opposition to coalition interests;

• Invasion of Crimea and passive army resistance

Pacification, by leading the enemy to believe that pre-planned operational training is occurring rather than offensive preparations, thus reducing his vigilance;

• Countless Russian training maneuvers at or near the Ukrainian boarder

Deterrence, by creating the perception of insurmountable superiority;

• Infographics on FB and the internet about the hardware superiority of the RF army vs the Ukrainian army

Provocation, by forcing him into taking action advantageous to your side;

• Many existing Ukrainian Parliamentary MP get bribes from Russia to allow contraband, narcotics and weapons to cross from Russia into Ukraine unimpeded

Overload, by dispatching an excessively large number of messages to the enemy during the preparatory period;

• Russian mass media

Suggestion, by offering information that affects the enemy legally, morally, ideologically, or in other areas;

• The Kremlin is trying to scare the EU with response sanctions: “This is just like war”

and

Pressure, by offering information that discredits the government in the eyes of its population.

• Russia Today and all Russian media outlets.

Local Oblast and village politicians and business owners get bribed by Russia to tow the Russian line.

We can play the Reflexive Control game in the West to topple Putin too. How?

I can think of at least a dozen tactics. Here is just one example that is starting to be put into play:

Imposing sanctions is the right strategy; what we haven’t got right is the objective of these sanctions-which should be to get the Russian Oligarchs who’ve been keeping Putin in power, or tolerating Putin in power, to throw the knockout punch against him.

Herbert E. Meyer, who served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence –William (Bill) Casey and Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council concludes: “That’s why the sanctions will work if Obama and his European counterparts will keep tightening the screws; if they keep making commerce more difficult for Russia’s serious business executives, for instance by blocking their access to capital, and if they keep making life more miserable for Russia’s playboy oligarchs, for instance by canceling their credit cards and denying landing rights to their private jets.” (cancelling boarding school privileges in the U.K. for about 4,000 Russian students from rich families or denying Oligarchs their yacht mooring privileges in London or the Riviera-disaster !!-WD}.

The West must send one clear message: Obama, Harper and European leaders must keep telling the Russians -- bluntly and publicly -- that all this will end the moment Vladimir Putin leaves the Kremlin for good.